John: We can learn something from each other.

I met John on Main Street in Durham. He is very "street smart" and told me a lot I didn’t know. He even filled me in on some of the street jargon. "On vacation" means you are locked up. "Bahamas" is code for a local or county jail. "Poconos" refers to prison.
So . . . I helped him with some terms he wasn’t familiar wit...h, like "lost" means we have strayed from the path God intended for us and can’t find our way back no matter how hard we try. "Rescued" means God came seeking us in the person of His Son Jesus and he won’t be satisfied until we come to love him. "Forgiven" means our sins are gone–cast as far from us as east is from west and will never be held against us anymore. And "Heaven" means we can live forever with Christ simply by trusting him and giving him our lives completely.

John and I prayed and promised to meet again. I will seek him out on Monday, give him a Bible, and encourage him in his faith. Now, this is church!

In the past few days, I have shared the gospel with Simon Peter, James, John, Thomas, and Paul. Who should I meet today but Nathaniel. I’m serious! I found Paul this morning and he had with him Nathaniel and Virgil (was he one of the twelve?). I shared the good news with them for about half an hour and then prayed with them. They promised to walk with the Lord, pray everyday, and seek to grow in their faith.

Nathaniel is a small but forceful man from Kentucky, known on the street as “Little Man.” He has been on the street for nearly twenty years. After his parents died, he had no one else with whom he had a healthy relationship, thought there was no place for him there, so he started traveling. He traveled all over the country and wound up in Durham about two years ago. He manner was brash and his language profane, but I sensed in him a hunger for something real.

Nathaniel told me about his memories of revival meetings in a warehouse when he was a kid. Although he never came into a real relationship with Christ, the seeds of the gospel were always in him. He started asking questions about Jesus and it was my joy to tell him that God had been following him all of his life and wanting to become his best friend. Nathaniel allowed me to pray with him and confessed faith in Christ. Lift him up faithfully in prayer that he grow in his walk with the Lord.

Virgil is a local man. His wife died about two months ago and he lost his home and transportation shortly thereafter. He has been on the street for about six weeks. He is still grieving over the loss of his wife and, at the same time, trying to get his life back on track. Virgil believe God had us meet this morning and is calling him back to Himself (Virgil has had some relationship with God in the past). I prayed for him for the healing of his heart and that God would give him wisdom and strength to get back on solid ground.

Both Nathaniel and Virgil asked for prayer that God would help them get their own place and start living a positive, productive life. I told them you would.

Mike: It's time for a new life!

I met Mike at the corner of Main and Mangum, just across the street from the site of our Wednesday Noon Bible Study. As he began to tell me his story, it was obvious that the world had not been kind to Mike. He has been beaten and robbed more than once. He was stabbed and left for dead once and was struck by a car, lan...ding him in the hospital for several weeks. Mike said he didn’t even understand why he was still alive. When I assured him that God has spared his life fo a great purpose, he seemed surprised, but intrigued with the idea.
Mike said he couldn’t really see a good reason for God to keep sparing his life and I told him that God made him and had kept him alive so that He (God) could have a wonderful, loving relationship with him (Mike). He seemed totally puzzled by that idea. Mike, as most people I know, has a hart time grasping the idea that he is so important to God that God would go to great lengths to get close to him. He has always believed that God was “up there somewhere” but to imagine that God was thinking of him and wanting to get close to him, was more than he could grasp. I assured him that this was true and asked if I could pray with him. He immediately reached out and took my hand and as I prayed with him, he humbly promised to yield his life to Christ in the very best way he could. I invited him to the Wednesday Bible Study and he promised me he would be there.

Mike was hungry, so I had the pleasure of taking him to lunch. His shoes were completely worn out and I told him I would meet him back in the same spot with some shoes. He could use a change of clothes as well, so I'll see what I can find. I feel as though I have an opportunity to put some shoes on Jesus’s feet. This is awesome!

Pray for Brother Mike.

Antonio: Nuevo hermano en Cristo

The streets were almost deserted today–like it was a holiday or something. As I approached five-points on Main Street, I encountered a middle-aged Hispanic gentleman who appeared to be looking for something. Soon after striking up a conversation with him, it was obvious that, as much as anything, he was looking for a friendly smile and a listening ear.

He told me his name was Antonio and he was from Mexico. He and his brother-in-law had come to the states looking for work. He had been able to get job at Burger King and a one-bedroom apartment on Chapel Hill Road which he and his brother-in-law have been sharing for several months. Antonio lost his job at Burger King a month ago and Rene (his brother-in-law) had gone to eastern North Carolina where he was told he might find work on a farm. He found work, but unfortunately he found something else: trouble.

Antonio started to cry as he told me how Rene was a nice person until he started drinking, then he lost his head. He wasn’t sure what charges his brother-in-law was facing and had no idea how the legal system worked. I invited him to come and take a seat with me on a nearby bench. I made a few calls for him and got details about the charges, the court dates, and the times Antonio could go and visit.

“Why are you doing this for me?” he asked. And I simply explained to him that God had brought me there at that very moment because He loved him and knew he needed a friend. He looked a little puzzled, then he literally laid his head on my shoulder. I said, “You have no idea how much God loves you, Antonio, and how close He wants to be to you.” I asked if I could pray with him and he immediately took off his cap and bowed his head. I prayed that God would grant his peace and give him direction for his life. I led him in a prayer to give himself over to God’s control and he freely prayed after me.

After spending more than half-an-hour with Antonio, I said goodbye, gave him my cell phone number, and assured him that I would see him again. He seemed reluctant to say goodbye and I asked him if he wanted to walk with me for a while; so I had a partner as I made my rounds through the downtown streets. I had the privilege of introducing Antonio to several of my new brothers before taking him home. On the way to his apartment, I phoned my friend, Mainor, and put Antonio on the line. Mainor welcomed him to the family and encouraged him in his faith. I also hooked him up with Jerry Leon who will be encouraging him as well.

Pray for Antonio, that he will grow strong in his new walk of faith and for Rene, that he will find Christ and his life will be transformed. I am looking for someone in or near Columbus County (Whiteville), NC, who knows the Lord and speaks Spanish to visit Rene and share the Lord with him. Any leads would be appreciated.

Tony: A new beginning

Tony is a middle-aged man who suffers chronic pain from some severely ruptured discs in his lower back. He tells me that he has abused his body with hard living since he was a teenager and is suffering the consequences every day.

Tony grew up in Charleston, SC, where he and his brother got involved in quite a lot of mischief when they were young. As they grew older, the only thing that changed was that their misbehavior became more and more serious, reaching its culmination one night when Tony’s brother killed a man against whom he was carrying a grudge. Tony vows that not only was he not involved in the murder, but he tried to persuade his brother against the idea. Tony says that his brother, in an effort to avoid the death penalty, implicated him in the crime. They both went to prison–Tony for 18 years and his brother for the rest of his life. Tony says the hardest thing he has ever done in his life is to forgive his brother.
After Tony shared his story with me, I told him a story: the story of a man named Joseph, who became a slave in a far-away country because of the betrayal of his brothers and went to prison for a crime he never committed. I talked with him about the providence of God in Joseph’s life–how God brought him out of prison, healed his painful memories of the past, gave him grace to forgive his brothers, and ultimately brought him into his destiny. I assured Tony that God could take everything that had happened in his life–the wrong that had been done to him, the pain he had suffered, and even his own misdeeds of the past–and redeem all of that to fulfill His purpose for his life.

Tony assured me that he was all for that. He said that if God could take the rest of his life and do something with it, he was welcome to it. And I said, “Tony, that’s all God is waiting for. If you really mean that, tell God right now that you give him your life without any reservation and then follow up on that commitment by following Christ for the rest of your life.” Tony agreed and I prayed with him right there on the street. I prayed for Tony’s healing as well, asking God to touch him and relieve his pain. I’m going to follow up with Tony and encourage his faith. Pray for Tony that God will give him an Ephraim (a fruitful new beginning) and a Manasseh (the power to forget his painful past).

Thomas: A Miracle in the Making

Thomas is a man of about 40 years, very thin with faltering steps and a very sad countenance. Was standing in front of a store window on Chapel Hill street at Five-Points just across from where my friend, Milton, and I were witnessing to a couple of men in the park. He kept looking at us, almost as though he might be waiting for us to come to him. I said, “Milton, there’s a man God wants us to minister to.” and we crossed to street to where he was. He almost seemed on the verge of tears as we approached him.

“How are you doing?” I asked. And he immediately said, “Not too good.” His hand was bandaged from a fall he had taken a few weeks ago when he had some sort of seizure. His face was also bruised from the fall and his overall appearance was one of a wounded, defeated man. “How can we be a blessing to you today?” I asked Thomas, and he told us he hadn’t eaten anything for a few days and if he could get a couple dollars, he would go and find something to eat. Milton and I told him we would do better than that; we would take him to dinner and get anything he would like to eat. He immediately accepted our invitation and we went to Blue Coffee, a restaurant in the central square.

As Thomas ate his meal, he freely told us his story. He came to Durham to be near his grandfather after his parents died. He dabbled in drugs and alcohol as a teenager and by the time his grandfather died when Thomas was in his early twenties, he was a full-blown alcoholic. He has been on the streets since that time and is now living in an abandoned van a couple of miles from downtown Durham.

Thomas has had a hunger for God since he was a child, but has always felt helpless to “fight off the demons” as he puts it, and live the live he knows God wants him to live. “I know this is not what God intended for me,” Thomas said, “this ain’t living. I get a little money and need to get some food in my body, but instead I go and buy alcohol. I know I’m destroying myself and I want to stop, but everything I try to change the way I’m living, the demons in me seem to overpower me and I don’t have any help overcoming them.”

We assured Thomas that there was one who could and would help him–that is the one who has already defeated Satan on his behalf and would be delighted to give him the power to defeat his demons and live a powerful overcoming life. Thomas clung on every word. This is obviously what he had been longing for all his life. He said to us, “If God would do that for me–if he would heal me and set me free–I would live for him and try to do his will.” As we continued to encourage Thomas and assure him that Jesus would be his savior and deliverer and that we would be his friends, he reached out his hands to us and said, “Will you please pray for me?” We were going to get to that, but Thomas was ready now! We prayed with Thomas and he cried out to the Lord for forgiveness and deliverance.

I don’t know that I have ever seem a more dramatic change in a man’s countenance than I saw in Thomas’s. He was powerfully touched by the hand of God. I felt strongly led to suggest a Christian recovery ministry called “Bethel Colony of Mercy” in Lenoir, NC. Thomas said he would love to go to a place like that and learn how to grow in his faith. I made the call and we have started the process to get Thomas into the program. Pray for Thomas and pray that God will provide the funds to get into Bethel. I believe Thomas is a miracle in the making. You haven’t heard the last of Thomas!

Aaron comes back!

Aaron grew up in Morehead City, NC, in a large, very religious family where going to church every week was just something they did. Every time the doors were open, Aaron and his family were there and, as a child, he made a confession of faith and was baptized. But, for Aaron, it was like the choices were already made for him and his only option was to go along with the program. Though he believed in God and called himself a Christian, he never really came into a living personal relationship with Jesus and never decisively lived out his faith. His was kind of a second-hand faith.

When Aaron was old enough to make his own choices, he decided that he had had quite enough of religion and church and could get along just fine without either, so he walked away from the faith of his childhood. The problem is Aaron was also walking away from God. He “kind of felt bad about it” but he thought he was quite capable of making his life work just fine without God. Little did he imagine the downward spiral his life was take. His sin and self-indulgence took him farther from God than he ever intended to go and cost him a bigger price that he ever intended to pay. He has been on the street for several years, just surviving from day to day.

Aaron told me today, “I’ve been thinking more about God recently and trying to do little things to work my way back to God.” I told him that as good as his intentions were and as noble as his deeds may be, he could not work his way back to God—and he didn’t have to! That God has made a way through Jesus Christ and all we have to do is come to him in faith and surrender and God would bring us back to himself. Aaron agreed that he wasn’t making much progress and agreed to give up control of his life to God. We prayed together right there on the park bench on Main Street and Aaron asked Jesus to be the Lord of his life.

Aaron is one of those guys I believe God will use to help bring a revival of faith to the streets. God is up to something wonderful!